Mobile application usage provided a digital mirror image for what happened in real life when COVID-19 hit and lockdowns began.
Simply put, in those early days of the pandemic in late February and March, ride-hailing apps plummeted in terms of active users while tools to help employees work from home soared.
Okta, a specialist in access management, has looked at app usage growth over the course of 2020 to find that the majority of travel apps experienced little or no growth and some even saw negative numbers.
Marriott’s loyalty program app Bonvoy, for example, was down 1% year-on-year while Hyatt grew 1% and Hilton grew 3%.
There were two notable exceptions of travel companies that fared significantly better than the rest of the pack with Airbnb seeing 11% growth year-on-year.
The consumer switch from hotels to vacation rental properties, often in less busy locations, probably accounts for most of the growth.
Disneyland Resorts & Hotels was the other exception, seeing usage grow 14% year-on-year - perhaps a nod to the hygiene processes and protocols introduced by the company as restrictions eased in June and July.
For a more general flavor of what was happening in terms of app usage, Okta, in its seventh report, says that 90% of the fastest growing apps were new to the top 10.
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Zoom, for example, unsurprisingly grew 45% between March and October 2020. The company is often cited to highlight how quickly things changed for the business world during the pandemic.
By May, reports emerged revealing that Zoom’s worth was greater than the world’s seven largest airlines combined, in terms of market capitalization.
AppAnnie, meanwhile, in its State of Mobile 2021 report, says there were 218 billion new app downloads in 2020, a 7% increase on 2019, while app store spend increased 20% to $143 billion.
Daily time spent per user also increased 20% to 4.2 hours.
Findings from other mobile app studies help paint the picture with figures from Apptopia revealing Uber to be the most popular travel app in 2020 with 95 million downloads, with the boom in food deliveries likely helping it to retain the top spot.
Back in late-June, Apptopia also revealed that Expedia-owned Vrbo had seen a 113% increase in installs in the past two months as well as record engagement levels.
This was a period of time in many parts of the Western world when travel restrictions lifted and consumers looked to accommodation that they felt they had more control over.
AppAnnie also notes this trend in its report revealing a 50% increase in Vrbo app downloads in the U.K. in 2020.
The mobile intelligence company also shows a massive 250% growth in downloads of the U.S. National Parks app.
Apptopia’s 2020 rankings show Google Maps and Google Earth took the second and third places, with Booking.com and Airbnb at fourth and fifth with 50 million and 42 million downloads respectively.
In 2019, Booking.com was third in the rankings, Grab was fourth and Airbnb sixth.
Booking.com’s recent announcements about its strategy to grow its vacation rental inventory worldwide, alongside competitors' ambitions, are reflective of its desire to widen its offering.
As mobile app usage has acted as a barometer for real life in 2020, it will be interesting to see how app growth recovers in the coming months.
Uber said during its third quarter 2020 earnings that mobility bookings were gradually improving while China’s Didi has said it is almost back to 2019 levels.
The ones to watch to gauge traveler confidence to get back on the road will be app usage of the major global airlines and hotel giants.